BALI, Indonesia – Police raised the alert level for Indonesia’s capital and the president warned of more attacks Sunday as a video shot the day before showed a suspected bomber clutching a backpack and strolling past diners moments before one of three suicide bombings killed at least 22 people on Bali.
The near-simultaneous bombings on the resort island also injured 101 people, including six Americans.
The death toll from the blasts remained uncertain Sunday as authorities handled the gruesome job of sorting body parts. Officials at Sanglah Hospital, where most victims were taken, said 23 people were killed in the blasts along with the three suspected bombers.
But the police chief said there had been some double-counting at the hospital and that only 19 had died, in addition to the three suspected killers.
The first bomb ripped through the Menega seafood cafe on Jimbaran Beach at 7:40 p.m. The second went off at 7:41 p.m. down the beach at the Nyoman cafe. The third exploded at 7:45 p.m. at the Raja Cafe 18 miles away in Kuta.
Fear of more attacks on tourists prompted Israel to warn its citizens Sunday not to travel to Egypt’s Sinai desert during the upcoming month of Jewish holidays, saying it has information that Arab militants planning strikes against Israelis already are located in the resort area.
Suspicion for the blasts fell on the Southeast Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, which wants to establish an Islamic state across Southeast Asia and has been linked to Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network, al-Qaida.
Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreigners, and subsequent attacks on the J.W. Marriott hotel and the Australian Embassy that killed 22. Saturday’s blasts occurred nearly three years to the day of the 2002 bombings, which also were in Kuta.
All three bombers were believed to be wearing belts of explosives, police said.
“All that is left is their head and feet,” said Maj. Gen. Ansyaad Mbai, a top Indonesian anti-terror official. “By the evidence we can conclude the bombers were carrying the explosives around their waists.”
Video footage shot by a vacationer at the three-story Raja Cafe showed a man wearing a backpack going in the door, and walking past tables to the back of the restaurant, where he barely remained in the frame. The video ends a moment later with a bright flash of light as the bomb detonates.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned that terrorists could be planning more strikes, and Jakarta’s police chief put the capital on top alert, with two-thirds of its police force on standby.
“The terrorists are still looking for soft targets,” Yudhoyono said.
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